The present invention relates to methods and apparatus for improving the performance of electrical devices, and more particularly to methods and apparatus that sense a variety of conditions and that control electrical devices in response to the conditions sensed.
Electronic devices are typically designed to perform specific functions. From the moment an electronic device is turned on, it may be fully functional to perform its designed task. This approach may be fine for simple devices. This approach, however, may present disadvantages in complex systems. For example, a complex system may consume relatively large amounts of power. If the complex system is fully functional at all times, power consumption typically remains high even when the system is not actually being used. This relatively high power consumption can be a particularly important concern for battery-powered systems where high power consumption can cause a short operational life.
Another characteristic of conventional electronic devices is that they may have several modes of operation and may be designed to start in one of those modes when turned on. Such devices may switch modes only in response to a physical user interaction, such as pressing a predetermined button, for example. Such a design may work for simple devices. Complex systems, however, may take a relatively long time to switch from one mode of operation to another. In addition, it may be inconvenient for a user to have to manually switch the system between modes. If a complex system is designed to always start in one mode when turned on, or to switch to another mode only when manually selected, the length of the switching time and the time required by the user to get to the system to initiate the switch could hinder the performance of the electronic system.
Accordingly, there has been a need for a method and apparatus that increases battery life of an electrical device by allowing the device to power up and power down components therein at appropriate times. There has also been a need for a method and apparatus that reduces the latency (i.e. the delay) between the time a user decides to operate a device in a certain mode and the actual mode switching. Latency can also refer to the latency between the time that the user decides to turn a device on or off and the actual switching on or off of the device.
An aspect of the invention is to provide a method and/or apparatus that controls an electrical device by sensing whether or not a user is using or is about to use the device. The method and/or apparatus can cause the electrical device to activate power hungry components only when they are likely to be needed. The method and/or apparatus can also cause the electrical device to de-activate power hungry components when they are not needed.
An aspect of the invention is to provide a method and/or apparatus that controls an electrical device by sensing when a user would like to switch to a desired mode of operation of the electrical device and to switch the modes of the device in response thereto. An aspect of the invention is to activate and/or deactive components or to switch between modes of an electrical device in response to a variety of events and/or conditions, such as change in position of the device, distance of the device to or from a target object or target position, visual events or repetitive events, for example. Alternate embodiments of the invention might observe different types of condition, such as rate of acceleration or change in rate of acceleration of the device. Embodiments of the present invention can progressively activate components of the electrical device as it becomes more and more likely that the components are going to be needed by the electrical device. In particular, if it appears based upon sensed conditions that the electrical device is going to go into a desired mode and that particular components of the electrical device are going to be needed in the desired mode, the embodiment of the invention can activate individual components of the electrical device at different points in time as it becomes more and more likely that the components will be needed. This progressive activation could be staged in such a way that as more indications are sensed that the particular components are going to be needed (e.g. indications of user intent to put the electronic device into a particular mode are sensed), then the resources dedicated to the desired mode, for example, will be increased. Similarly, embodiments of the present invention could allow progressive deactivation of components of the electrical device as it becomes less and less likely that the components will be needed.